The “Where’s Wally?” of the 2013 federal election has been found - on the set of ABC’s The Hamster Decides.

Jaymes Diaz, the Liberal candidate for Greenway who made world headlines when he failed to name more than one point of the Coalition’s six-point plan to “stop the boats” and then went off the grid to avoid all media, last night surfaced during the satirical political show during its “question time” segment.

The initial interview began with a cardboard cutout of the unsuccessful candidate and host Julian Morrow remarking: “Jaymes Diaz not showing up to an election event, that would be a surprise” – before Diaz appeared from backstage to applause from the audience.

“Is the best way to describe your campaign for the seat of Greenway (a) successful, or (b) room for improvement,” Morrow asked him.

After a lengthy pause, Diaz replied: “Well, I’m happy you asked me that question,” before being stopped mid-sentence and ushered away by a minder from Liberal party HQ*.

Diaz, who was harshly criticised for his refusal to speak to the media after his disastrous interview despite reports his silence had been ordered by the Liberal party campaign office, impressed some viewers on Twitter, while others thought it was perhaps too little, too late for him.